Villagers up the ante against Corona testing; influenced under false propaganda
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
When the Corona was out braked in Punjab, villagers put up nakas at the entrance of their villages and blocked all the entry-exit points so that no outsider can enter their village and spread corona amongst them. But now the scene has changed. Now, some of the the villagers are unitedly banned the entry of health officials in their villages, for Corona tests.
With the number of Covid patients increasing in Punjab and new cases start coming from rural areas, the state Health Department is up against an unlikely adversary – villages that refuse to be part of mass sampling drives to contain the spread. Villages across some districts are beginning to take a stand against Covid-19 testing alleging poor treatment at government’s Covid facilities and preferring home quarantine.
One such Gram Panchayat village Rajpura, block Bhawanigarh, district Sangrur forwarded a letter to the district administration Sangrur claims that “the Gram Panchayat and all village residents have stated that the residents are against getting their Covid tests done. It adds that it is requested not to send any health department team to the village, saying that if anyone tests positive in the village he or she will be treated at home. If the administration uses any kind of force, they will be responsible for their own act.”
Chief Minister of Punjab Capt Amarinder Singh, had already instructed the deputy commissioners to test all and concentrate in rural areas, as these are becoming new Corona hotbeds. Deputy Commissioners across districts have initiated efforts to get village sarpanches to agree to cooperate, but it is proving to be an uphill task.
“Villagers were already in dilemma. They alleged that isolation centres lacked the mandatory facilities, whereas govt hospitals are fully equipped to handle any emergency. Some bad elements, through social media are also playing a negative role in this pandemic, reporting false propaganda of organ trade, govt gets grant, doctors get money, flourishing under the garb of Covid deaths, lack of facilities in govt hospitals etc forcing the villagers to not to go for Corona test, which is very bad . Th govt should take action against those, who do negative propaganda” said Bhola, a native of Village Bhadlehri
August,30,2020
